Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They go a long way back. Somewhere around the beginning of high school.

Kaoru had always been unapologetic about who he is and what he wants. Kojiro was quite the opposite. One is an open book, while the other one is full of facades.

It started out as somewhat of a coincidence. Sort of.

Kojiro remembers it clearly. He had been staying up late tossing and turning in his bed thinking about his future. Unable to fall asleep, he thought about stress-eating but found the cabinets empty of anything worth something to munch on. So he went out. Walked the soulless streets of the sleeping Okinawa, humming a tune to block out the thoughts of scary things like kuchisake onna, when suddenly a sound of something grinding against concrete came.

He froze.

And before he could even turn, something went past him.

He swore their eyes met before Sakurayashiki Kaoru rushed past him riding a skateboard, his then shoulder-length hair dancing as they conquered the sleeping streets of Okinawa.

And Kojiro swore it was at that moment he thought of Sakurayashiki Kaoru as ethereal.

He developed a habit because of that particular incident. Kojiro found himself taking more nightly walks. Sometimes walking the path where he encountered that certain version of Sakurayashiki Kaoru.

Kaoru had always been open about himself and his opinion. And yet something about that certain encounter felt like a secret between them. Something intimate that only he gets to see. Or so he'd like to convince himself. It seems like the other boy thinks that the encounter is anything special based on the way he treats Kojiro, which is nothing.

They weren't friends yet anyways. Yet. Kojiro plans to change that soon.

Or so he convinces himself again.

Overcome with shyness, he doesn’t approach the other boy who is clearly beloved by most of their schoolmates based on the usual crowd that surrounds him.

Kaoru isn't loud by any means. But he is charismatic. Full of wit and sarcasm. Most of all, he is conventionally attractive to boys and girls alike.

Kojiro looks at the mirror and sighs. Ever since puberty hit him, his height shot up, and shed most of his baby fat. He runs his hands through his hair and tugs. Why must he be so lanky?

He thinks of Kaoru who is technically on the slim side but he somehow makes it work, giving him a princely sort of vibe. He did hear some whispers about Sakurayashiki Kaoru as something along the lines of having an aura of 'the master of the house' complete with a sakura blossom backdrop. Kojiro completely agrees.

They met again at night.

It wasn’t a conscious decision on Kojiro's part. He was just asked to run by the grocery store to go get some missing ingredients when he collided with something. Rather, he collided with someone.

Sakurayashiki Kaoru dressed in street clothes was a different kind of ethereal.

Kojiro could feel his palms sweating as he cursed himself for going out in his pajamas.

He opened his mouth to apologize but he heard the other boy click his tongue in annoyance before dropping his skateboard and gliding away from him.

For some reason, his chest felt a little bit tight that night.

It kept going for almost a year. Kojiro goes out, sometimes he sees him, most of the time he doesn’t. And even when they do, they don’t talk. Kojiro nods in greeting and Kaoru just skates. He tries not to think about it that much.

(he tries to ignore the tightening of his chest)

Things change around the second year of high school (as most romance stories go), and they end up as classmates. On top of that, they were also seatmates.

Kojiro swallows and walks towards where he's supposed to be seated. Right behind Sakurayashiki Kaoru who has very bad eyesight that he has to sit in front even with glasses on. He was kinda glad he got the seat even though the thought of sitting in front makes his anxiety buzz like an annoying bug that hovers on his ear. Incessant, unnecessary, and a nuisance.

It doesn’t end there. Of course, they had to be partners on every project given to them.

He doesn’t have a stutter as far as he knows, but that doesn’t seem the case when talking to the other boy. His sentence has at least three filler words and an apology.

He apologizes to the other boy for being annoying.

Sakurayashiki Kaoru who seems to have only a bored or irritated expression reserved for the public looked surprised before replying, "I don’t think it's annoying though?"

And that’s that.

Somehow along the lines of doing projects and not having enough time, Kojiro ends up in the Sakurayashiki estate which is a place that would surely give Kojiro anxiety because of its imposing look. Built like a traditional Japanese house with a stone garden, carefully placed bonsai, and rocks, the 'master of the house' aura made so much sense.

He follows Kaoru inside the estate towards his room which made his jaw drop.

There along the walls are bookshelves filled with what seems to be sports magazines, a LOT of gadgets, a PC set, and on the far corner of the room, a skateboard.

"Uh, nice room." Kojiro managed to utter..

"It’s a bit messy," Kaoru replied. "I wasn’t expecting a visitor."

"Sorry about that," he said scratching the back of his neck.

"It's fine."

They worked in silence, occasionally taking breaks to stretch their bodies or eat something but mostly stayed quiet. Somewhere along the lines, they started asking questions to each other about the essay they were working on. Questions like "does this sentence make sense" pop up, "how are you holding " slowly filled the room with a conversation. Before long, their half-filled work was left forgotten and conversation flowed like a river between them.

"I saw you skating a couple of times around town during the night."

"Is that so."

"It seems fun."

"It is."

"Can you teach me?"

"I can't see why not."

Chapter Text

Stars shine brightly in the night sky.

It was night when they met him. The boy with both wings clipped on his back, who lives in a gilded cage.

It has been a year since Kaoru taught him how to skate, and a year since they started being friends when they met Adam (Shindo Ainosuke). Adam was everything Kojiro wasn't. Adam had the aura of a commander ready to win the war. And Kaoru,

Well, Kaoru was captivated by him.

He watched as Kaoru hovered around Adam like a moth to a flame and all he can think of is how he wanted to be the center of his attention as well.

And so the dynamic went something like this: Adam was the sun and Kaoru is the Earth that orbits around the sun. Which left Kojiro as the moon that circles around the Earth, pitifully shining with the light that isn't his, to begin with.

In ancient times it's always the strong one who rules. And Adam has always been strong.

(Neither of them saw how Adam uses his power. Rather neither of them seemed to confront the problem until it was too late)

If you would ask Nanjo Kojiro when exactly he realized he fell for Sakurayashiki Kaoru, he wouldn’t be able to answer. It's a slow buildup of interactions and feelings that slowly formed (a cliff, a tower, a rollercoaster) that makes his heart swoop and his stomach drop. It was something that he couldn’t put to words.

But every time he sees Kaoru, just Kaoru who skates to his heart's content, he feels like tearing up. He feels blessed to see this sight.

And so he stayed quiet. Even as he watches his world revolves around the sun. Even though he knows that his love is one-sided.

He watches Kaoru as he falls for someone that isn't him.

They met Tadashi after Adam revealed his true identity (Shindo Ainosuke was the beloved son of Shindo Aiichiro). Tadashi and Kojiro's eyes met and a wave of understanding crashed between the two of them. They were both orbiting around their friend. Tadashi to Adam, Kojiro to Kaoru.

They nodded to each other and looked at their stars.

Sometimes he wonders what would happen if he confessed to Kaoru.

Knowing him, he might either brush it off, politely reject him or start avoiding him. Kaoru hates complications that involve emotions. The only time he seems to enjoy it is when tinkering with his gadgets, ranting about what code should be used for a particular command. Throwing phrase after phrase of incomprehensible explanations of things Kojiro would never understand.

And yet.

Time and time again, he would sit and listen to him rant about the latest feature of his PC or whatever gadget he has.

Adam was something along the lines of a hurricane, a volcano eruption, a hailstorm. Adam is the definition of power, grace, and destruction. Charismatic and strives for perfection. Calculated in every move, making the perfect execution to whatever trick he wishes to learn. Adam was someone worthy to be with Kaoru, Kojiro thinks.

With that thought, he started working out more. Spend more time honing his skill on the board. Started talking more and more. Started taking up space.

And yet for all his effort, he is just the sun while Adam is Betelgeuse.

Their dynamics changed into something like this.

Tadashi loves Adam. Adam has mixed feelings for Tadashi. Kaoru likes (or even loves him, but Kojiro doesn’t wanna acknowledge that) Adam. And Kojiro, unsurprisingly, is in love with Kaoru. Utterly and
irrevocably in-love with his best friend who is into their other friend who is also into his friend.

It’s a mess to think about.

He tries not to think about it too much.

Life goes on and Kojiro thinks about his future and how he wants to do something worthwhile.

"I think I'm going to be a chef," Kojiro said.

Kaoru, who was sitting on his bed reading a magazine, stopped and looked up. "A chef?"

"Uh, does it not suit me?" Kojiro scratched the back of his neck while looking away. He heard Kaoru cough. Kojiro sneaked a peek and saw a sight that made his chest ache. Kaoru was playing with the pages of his magazine, folding it and unfolding it.

There was silence.

A beat.

Then Kaoru looked up. "What kind of chef are you thinking of?"

Kojiro blinked. "I don’t know I haven't decided yet, but I wanna cook."

"I like pasta."

"Italian it is"

Things started getting weird with Adam. Once, he disappeared for almost two weeks before he came back with no Tadashi and with the hood back. Then he started competing with different people obsessively.

Most of them came back with more than broken bones. They also came back with broken spirits.

They confronted him. Screamed at him. Tried to understand why he changed so much. Or has he always been the same way?

Adam had always been strong, commanding, and charismatic.

Had they been blinded too much by his charisma that they ignored his faults? Swept it under the rug till it was already too late?

Once again the dynamics changed. It goes something like this.

Tadashi is gone. Adam is out for something none of them knows. Kaoru is hurt.

And Kojiro doesn’t know what to do.

Life goes on without Adam.

The secret skate society "S" grows bigger and bigger every night and they keep meeting and skating against new opponents seemed endless. Surprisingly they ended up making a name for themselves in the skating community, much so that they started gaining fans and attract attention whenever they compete against someone. They started gaining a reputation that they had to make aliases.

("I never really thought about having aliases."

"I don’t think either of us thought we would ever be this famous. We were just having fun skating with him"

"I guess so. At least he has an alias already."

"Ah. You're right."

"When am I never?"

"Asking Carla to calculate doesn’t count."

"Tch. So, aliases?"

"How about you think of something for me and I think of something for you?"

"I'm gonna hit you if it's something weird."

"Harsh. How about Cherry Blossom? Cherry for short."

"How original. You just took out a part of my last name."

"Haha, you said nothing weird."

"Then you're gonna be Joe, Nanjo Kojiro."

"Fair enough, Kaoru. I mean, Cherry."

"No, keep calling me Kaoru."

"Okay, Kaoru.")

Kaoru and Kojiro grew into Cherry Blossom and Joe.